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Conservatives amend law to allow export of prohibited weapons to Israel, Kuwait

Critics are raising an alarm over what they say is an ongoing erosion of government control over the export of Canadian military goods.

Israeli soldiers secure the Israel-Lebanon border Wednesday. The federal government says it is allowing shipments of prohibited weapons to Israel to “open potential new market opportunities for Canadian exporters,” among other reasons. (Ariel Schalit / The Associated Press)

OTTAWA — Critics are raising an alarm over what they say is an ongoing erosion of government control over the export of Canadian military goods.

The Star reported Wednesday the Conservative government quietly amended the export law to permit Canadian shipments to Israel and Kuwait of prohibited weapons such as banned handguns or automatic weapons.

According to two new regulations published Wednesday, the Conservative cabinet approved the changes two weeks ago. The new rules take effect immediately and add Israel and Kuwait to an approved list of 37 countries to which Canadian exporters can legally ship weapons that remain prohibited under Canada’s Criminal Code, including “fully automatic firearms, electric stun guns and large-capacity magazines.”

Amnesty International says it, along with Project Ploughshares, has long sought tighter controls on the list of countries to which weapons are shipped, but it did not receive notice of the potential additions of Israel and Kuwait in time to make a submission.

“It is not a terribly open or transparent process,” said Hilary Homes, an Amnesty International Canada campaigner.

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Cesar Jaramillo, of Project Ploughshares, said the steady expansion of that list, known as the Automatic Firearms Country Control List, is “troubling.”

The list was designed to restrict the foreign market for Canadian-sourced automatic firearms, but Jaramillo said it has been gradually expanded as “potential markets and lucrative deals emerge for Canadian weapons.” The addition of Kuwait and Israel triples the number of approved countries from 13 to 39 since it was established in 1991, he said.

“What we are seeing is a downward trend in export controls whereby commercial interests end up overriding considerations related to human rights or security concerns.”

Jaramillo pointed to last year’s deal to export light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, touted by the Conservatives as boon to job creation in London, Ont., area. He said it is “the largest military exports deal in the country’s history” with “one of the very worst human rights violators in the world — despite export control guidelines that restrict military exports to countries with a persistent record of human rights violations . . . .

The weapons now open to export under Wednesday’s rule change are prohibited here but there is definitely a market for them abroad. Jaramillo says markets in NATO-member countries have become saturated and military spending has dwindled, but Canadian manufacturers have sought new markets elsewhere, and the government has facilitated their efforts.

Homes said Amnesty believes the criteria to determine which states get on the list should include “an assessment of the country’s compliance with relevant international standards and obligations, including those of international humanitarian and human rights law.” The list should be regularly re-evaluated, he said. And Canada should be confident that automatic weapons transfers to the state will not lead to breaches of UN Security Council embargoes, violations of human rights or international law, or be used in the commission of crimes or terrorist acts or get diverted to “unauthorized end users.”

Foreign Affairs media relations spokesman Francois Lasalle refused the Star’s request for an interview with a departmental expert, but said in an email “Israel is constantly on the front lines of the struggle against terrorism and is a like-minded liberal democracy with which we enjoy excellent relations.”

“Kuwait is a key partner in the battle against ISIL and plays a significant role in regional security.”

Canadian exports of military goods and technology

For the 2012 and 2013 calendar years, Canada’s total exports of military goods and technology amounted to approximately $1.72 billion.

The major share ($1.15 billion or 67 per cent) went to member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or non-NATO countries listed on the Automatic Firearms Country Control List destinations.

Saudi Arabia, a non-NATO country included on that list was the largest single destination of Canadian military exports each year, and received $575.1 million in military exports, accounting for 33 per cent of all Canadian military exports.

Five NATO countries were also in the top ten destinations for the same period: the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France and Belgium.

One other of the top ten destinations was non-NATO Australia, which received a combined $46.9 million in military exports.

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